IPSWICH: A mother today fears losing another child in tragic circumstances – after seeing her teenage son locked up less than two years after burying his younger brother.

Josh Mison, of Maude Street, Ipswich, robbed Robert Garrard last year after knocking him to the ground and assaulting him with two other men.

Ipswich Crown Court heard how Mison later taunted Mr Garrard, who was left emotionally scarred by the attack.

But his mother, Jo, is determined to stand by her son, whose life, she says, was irrevocably changed by the tragic death of his younger brother Tyler, who was found hanging from his bed in September 2009.

“Life has been terrible,” she said. “He has always blamed himself for Tyler’s death. He has done some silly things and we’ve tried to help him, but we’re not professionals.

“It’s difficult, losing a son the way I did, to hear of another child trying to take his own life. And now I can’t be there to help him deal with it.

“He is adamant to this day that he hasn’t committed a crime – and as a family we have to believe him.

“He’ll be a completely different person if he comes out. It sounds horrible to say ‘if’, but after making two attempts at his life it’s quite possible he might try again and be successful.”

Mison has already spent 162 days in custody and will see out the rest of his sentence in a young offenders’ institution.

Mrs Mison said her son had shown signs of “growing up” in the last few months, adding: “He has shown a better outlook in the letters he has sent me. Maybe being inside will do him the world of good.”

Sentencing Mison, Judge Peter Fenn described the robbery as “particularly unpleasant”.

Several weeks after the robbery, Mr Garrard had seen Mison in the local job centre and Mison had asked him if he had been robbed.

Shortly afterwards, Mr Garrard saw Mison and his friends again outside the Post Office and Mison had taunted him by leading a chant of “knife, knife, knife”.

During the trial, the court heard that Mr Garrard was walking home along Crane Hill, Ipswich, after a night out in the town on August 9 when he was approached by three youths wearing hoodies and asked by one of them for a cigarette.

As Mr Garrard was talking to the group, Mison had held a knife to his throat and he was told to empty his pockets.

Mr Garrard did as he was told, but was then struck on the cheek by one of the men with Mison and then kicked and punched by all three. The youths had run off with his phone and some loose change.

David Wilson, for Mison, said there had been a “minimal acceptance” by his client of the offence in the pre-sentence report which he claimed showed a degree of maturity finally emerging.

He said since being in custody Mison had been bullied and had made two suicide attempts.

Mr Wilson made reference to the sad circumstances surrounding the death of Mison’s brother, which had affected him deeply.

n What’s your view on this story? Write to Your Letters, The Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk